Jonathan Szkotak | Articles and Commentary

Changes taking effect in 2027 will raise costs across Medicare, Medicaid, and the ACA marketplaces, including higher Part D and Part B costs, new Medicaid work requirements and six-month renewals, and a second straight year of double-digit ACA premium increases. These changes fall hardest on low-income adults and people just above the ACA subsidy cutoff, and the resulting coverage losses push care toward safety-net hospitals, whose uncompensated care costs everyone pays for.

Mail-in ballots are vulnerable to rejection over minor technicalities or postal delays, giving partisan actors grounds to disqualify legitimate votes. Voters in contentious districts should vote in person when possible to ensure their ballots are counted without dispute.

Revised cardiovascular guidelines have lowered statin treatment thresholds, expanding eligibility to adults as young as 30 based on 30-year risk projections and cumulative cholesterol exposure. Individuals should evaluate their long-term risk profiles with a primary care provider to determine if early lipid-lowering intervention is clinically warranted.

Contemporary economic and political institutions encourage short-term self-interest and corporate extraction at the expense of long-term public welfare. By realigning systemic incentives around shared human values rather than immediate profit, society can implement practical policy adjustments that foster stability and pro-social outcomes.

The US government used $928 million from a legal settlement fund to pay TotalEnergies to cancel major Atlantic wind projects, bypassing Congressional oversight in the process. The deal mandates that the company reinvest this payout directly into domestic fossil fuel infrastructure like the Rio Grande LNG terminal. This strategy prioritizes immediate corporate profits and legacy energy sources over the long-term development of a renewable grid, effectively deferring the costs of energy transition to future generations.

Jonathan Szkotak, PharmD—a healthcare strategy consultant with expertise in Medicaid policy, patient access, and clinical analytics—made targeted donations to three highly rated 501(c)(3) organizations responding to the 2025 Texas floods

This article reviews the pharmacologic treatment of obesity including past treatment options, lessons learned in recent years, current short- and long-term treatment options, and future direction. Formulary considerations of currently available agents are discussed. (Formulary. 2013; 48:136-143.)

This article reviews the pharmacologic treatment of obesity including past treatment options, lessons learned in recent years, current short- and long-term treatment options, and future direction. Formulary considerations of currently available agents are discussed. (Formulary. 2013; 48:136-143.)